Page 60 of Hades

My mind raced, too many fucking bad outcomes possible. “Fuck it,” I said to myself and quickly raised my arm, taking aim before I squeezed the trigger. The gunshot rang out, echoing in the silence. I watched the short journey to the center of Alexei’s fucking forehead.

Raven gasped and dropped to the floor as Alexei crumpled to the ground. Viktor, ever the survivalist, dropped to the floor and for several long seconds they were both out of my sight.

“Raven!” I called out, my heart slamming hard against my chest.

“Hades…” My name came out on a strangled sigh and then she appeared with Viktor’s arm around her neck, Alexei’s gun pressed to her head.

“Don’t be a hero or I will put a bullet in sweet Daisy’s head.” He kissed her temple gently. “I don’t want to do it, but I will. She is mine.”

“Wrong, asshole. She’s mine.” My gaze met Raven’s for a long moment and the heartache I saw in her eyes gutted me. “Don’t give up, babe. I got you,” I promised. It was a promise I planned to make good on.

No matter what.

Viktor’s expression darkened, possessiveness sparked in his eyes even in the dark. “Daisy is mine. I bought her. I groomed her and turned her into exactly what I want.”

I barked out an evil laugh, shaking my head. “It’s pathetic,” I snarled. “A man with so much money can’t get a woman so he takes a woman like Raven, removing her sparkle and her fire. A perfect robot too frightened to run away.”

“Fuck you,” he spat, taking a step back and pulling Raven with him.

“Nah, fuck you,” I shot back with a laugh. “Except she wasn’t too scared to run away, was she?” I laughed again and advanced another step. “She couldn’t get away fast enough.”

He opened his mouth and then slammed it shut. “She won’t get away this time.”

My smile faded. “You’re a dead man, Viktor.”

He smiled but there was no humor in it before he backed out of the room, dragging her with him.

I took off after them, knowing my brothers would catch up when they could. It was what we did. It was how we operated. I followed the dark silhouette down a narrow hall before it opened up to an open door that led to a big ass backyard with a pool.

Viktor hadn’t spotted them yet, but Rocky and Hollywood were on the other side of the pool, effectively trapping him between us. He finally looked over his shoulder and froze when he saw there was no way out. He gripped Raven tighter, his gun hand shaking like it was his first time holding the cold steel. “Don’t come any closer,” he shouted, head swiveling back and forth between me and my brothers behind him.

“There’s no way out of this for you, Viktor. Let Raven go and you might live to walk out of here too.” There was no way I would let that happen, but I needed to get Raven away from him.

His lips pulled into a tight smile that didn’t meet his icy gaze. He was daring me to risk it, to risk her. “Do you want me bad enough to risk harming Daisy?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know who the fuck Daisy is.”

He arched a brow, silently calling me out for not answering his question.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to risk Raven for anything.”

“Then back the fuck up,” he growled.

I shook my head. “I don’t, but she does.” I looked at Raven then. There wasn’t a trace of fear in her eyes. Worry was there, but no fear. Worry and a hint of resignation because she knew that what mattered to me was what she wanted. I couldn’t take this from her.

More than that, I wouldn’t.

“You know what I want,” she said to me, her gaze steady as one arm gripped his forearm.

“Do it, Hades. Do it now.”

I knew what she wanted me to do. She wanted me to shoot with no fucking regard for her life. I would never do that, risk her life. Not for any-fucking-thing.

“Raven!” Falcon’s voice was a roar behind me. “Fucking shoot him,” he demanded, his voice raw with fear for his sister.

I didn’t flinch in the face of the chaos that surrounded me. Instead, I found absolute peace in the effort it took to focus on just one thing. Not Raven. Not my brothers. Just Viktor.

He sneered as if he was disgusted at me for being so sentimental about a woman he viewed as property. Triumph filled his eyes because he couldn’t imagine a world in which he didn’t emerge victorious. “That’s what I thought—”